This invention relates to snow guards for restraining ice and snow from sliding down inclined surfaces on buildings, particularly roofs or the like.
The commercially used snow guards at present are often in the shape of brackets with a base fixed to the roof and some even have the look a shoe horn shaped bracket fastened to the roof. Other snow guards have a pair of brackets fixed to the roof with a straight rod extending across the rods to give the roof appearance of a series of separated rods on the lower edge of the inclined roof. Snow guards are often attached to the metal roofs because the metal roof has a tendency to absorb heat and melt the snow and to then form ice sheets that can slide down the roof. The snow guards hold and retain any ice sheets that may form against sliding from the roof and causing damage.
Metal roofs often come in a wide variety of colors, such as copper, ruby, green, white, metallic, etc. Heretofore, the snow guards have been typically made of metal, which may rust or otherwise oxidize and stain the roof, or have been made of a clear transparent plastic such as Lucite. Given the various colors of metal roofs and the bracket appearance of currently used snow guards, architects, builders and building owners have been reluctant, at times, to place such snow guards on a beautiful metal roof even though they may want to do so to avoid potential liability from damage claims. Thus, there is a need for a snow guard that is highly functional and yet is aesthetically pleasing to architects, builders and building owners, for use particularly on beautifully colored metal roofs.
In some instances, the construction people have actually installed the prior art snow guards in the wrong orientation. For example, in some instances, the upstanding bracket member is installed with its upstanding wing being at the lowest point on the snow guard on the roof slope when the manufacturer intended the upstanding wing to be higher, that is, up slope on the roof. Thus, there is a need for a more foolproof design for a snow guard that will not be installed at the wrong orientation on the roof. Also, the spacing between the flanges of metal roof sheets vary significantly and it would be helpful if the same snow guard could be oriented in a first position to give a smaller width for a narrow distance between a pair of roof flanges and oriented in a second position to provide a large width for a wider distance between the roof flanges.